A study sought to identify the cognitive strategies or techniques that expert middle school teachers use to help mainstreamed students learn from content area texts. Twenty middle school social studies and science teachers who had been identified as teachers who worked well with mainstreamed students were interviewed concerning what they thought…

Noting that teachers sometimes fail to draw on students' prior knowledge, this guide focuses on helping teachers both to think about the cognitive processes involved in learning and to design activities that provide students with a solid introduction to various learning tasks. The first section briefly discusses current theory and research in…

Defining emergent as the process of becoming and literacy as the interrelatedness of reading and writing in young children's development, this paper reviews emergent literacy research and relates it to beginning reading and writing instruction. The first section of the paper describes the social and linguistic contexts for literacy, reviewing…

A self-report scale was constructed and validated that measures individual differences in objectivism--the tendency to base one's judgments and beliefs upon empirical information and rational considerations. Validity data showed that, compared to people who score low on the Objectivism Scale, highly objective individuals enjoy thinking more, rely…

Six tasks designed to prepare teachers to develop behavioral objectives are detailed: (1) Define "behavioral objective," and list characteristics of behavioral objectives. (2) Distinguish between objectives which are behaviorally stated and those which are not. (3) Write behavioral objectives for learning activities appropriate to your…

A second year of experimental research on young children examined the instructional power of television in facilitating the acquisition of cognitive skills. In addition, researchers investigated the efficiency of an instructional support system designed to maximize the results of educational television. Subjects were three- to five-year-old Native…

The theoretical and practical structure of a learning skills program based on an organization model is described. The first section of the paper deals with the description and implication of the program. Ideographic questioning and examination of a group of students and their study habits led to the development of an information processing model…

The task of the conference reported here was to exchange ideas about approaches taken to social science content in the new curricula. The hope was to contribute to the improvement of the large and growing amount of academically based curriculum work through interdisciplinary exposure. The major emphasis was on cognitive content and its…

The symposium on which this report is based was motivated by the belief that scientific understanding of how man learns through language will some day help in the development and use of written instructional materials. The main purpose of the symposium was to take stock of the more promising findings and concepts about verbal learning processes in…

After intensively studying for several years the thinking processes of members of a tribal group in Western Africa, the Kpelle, the authors examine the relation between culture and cognitive development. The following issues are discussed: (1) an analysis of the terms "culture" and "cognition"; (2) an ethnographic description of the Kpelle…

The progression of qualified surgical nurses toward capable proficiency was examined in an ethnographic study during which 25 nurses, including 4 who transferred to other wards, were observed to determine whether social mediation affects the process of proficiency development. The nurses were observed for 18 months. Data were also gathered through…

Used observations and home visits to examine sex differences in language ability of 54 disadvantaged children at risk for poor language outcomes. Found that language difficulties increased over time, boys were at a constant disadvantage to girls in language development, and sex difference in language ability appeared even when families had similar…

An analysis of a 10-minute episode in which 7-year-old students (n=3) engage in collaborative small group activity is presented to explore the relationship between individual learning and group development. Students learned as they interactively constituted situations for justification or validation, yielding an institutionalized solution method.…

This study examined three groups of postsecondary students using the "Learning Disabilities Diagnostic Inventory" (LDDI). Reasoning scale to determine if there were significant differences in their self-reported reasoning behaviors. The results indicated that none of the students self-reported a "Likely" intrinsic processing deficit. However, some…

Designed primarily for practicing teachers and for use in pre- and in-service courses in science education, this book focuses on how 10- to 15-year-old children learn science. Findings are analyzed and suggestions are offered for improving the teaching/learning process. Issues are discussed and organized into five major sections. These include:…